Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

Some recent photos from the tribute page for Akong Rinpoche on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/AkongTulku

The first is presumably the kudung shrine, with Rinpoche's remains behind the curtain.

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The next few seem to be a public puja that was held in Rinpoche's honor, or perhaps a public viewing.

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I find it a bit interesting to note that whenever Akong Rinpoche's name is written in Tibetan, it is spelled A dkon. Wonder where the 'g' came from... Maybe similar to the "gompa" pronunciation of dgon pa?
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

A couple more of the shrine room at Kagyu Samye Ling. Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche (Akong Tulku's brother) can be seen in the second photo.

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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

A letter from His Eminence the 12th Goshri Gyaltsab Rinpoche:
The Dharma-lord Akong Rinpoche, brilliant sun illuminating the Kagyu Teachings, devoted his entire life to the noble purpose of serving all sentient beings and the dharma and, more specifically, to spreading and furthering the Buddhadharma in the West; to establishing new schools in many parts of Tibet teaching traditional Tibetan medicine, Tibetan language and a full range of subjects; to helping the poor in Tibet and in many other countries.

From the heart, I beseech you to recollect these excellent deeds, so worthy of praise. At the same time, while I am deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Akong Rinpoche’s precious life and that of two of his assistants on the 8th of October, I urge each and every one of you to contemplate the impermanent nature of all composite things: please reflect on this, all of you, the monks and nuns and the whole community of his seat, now earnestly engaged in prayers appropriate for the completion of his compassionate work of this life; his family, to start with Lama Yeshe Ösal Rinpoche, holder of the wealth of the Three Trainings; his wife, children and all his relatives; his disciples, both in Tibet and in all the other countries; Rokpa International’s directors and workers, all the people in need and their dependents.

It is of utmost importance that instead of grieving you strive to find the means to ensure the continuity and growth of the outstanding work of this great being.
With auspicious and constant prayers that this may come true, I offer this message of condolences to comfort your heart.

~ The 12th Goshir Gyaltsap, October 9, 2013.

(Translated from the Tibetan by Katia and Ken Holmes)
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
KonchokZoepa
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by KonchokZoepa »

:thanks: :namaste:
If the thought of demons
Never rises in your mind,
You need not fear the demon hosts around you.
It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned,
there are neither buddhas or demons.
He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue,
will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion.
Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

-Milarepa

OMMANIPADMEHUNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6P9tOYmdo
Knotty Veneer
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Knotty Veneer »

Karma Jinpa wrote:Some recent photos from the tribute page for Akong Rinpoche on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/AkongTulku

The first is presumably the kudung shrine, with Rinpoche's remains behind the curtain.
No - this is just a shrine mandala. Akong Rinpoche's Kudung was cremated at his Tibetan Monastery Dolma LhaKhang last week. Hopefully some of his ashes will return and be interred at Samye Ling also.
Karma Jinpa wrote:I find it a bit interesting to note that whenever Akong Rinpoche's name is written in Tibetan, it is spelled A dkon. Wonder where the 'g' came from... Maybe similar to the "gompa" pronunciation of dgon pa?
Interesting question. I think much of the English spelling of Tibetan names in works in the early '60s ( when he first came to Britain) is decidedly bizarre by our standard today.
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

Knotty Veneer wrote:
Karma Jinpa wrote:Some recent photos from the tribute page for Akong Rinpoche on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/AkongTulku

The first is presumably the kudung shrine, with Rinpoche's remains behind the curtain.
No - this is just a shrine mandala. Akong Rinpoche's Kudung was cremated at his Tibetan Monastery Dolma LhaKhang last week. Hopefully some of his ashes will return and be interred at Samye Ling also.
That's what I get for presuming it was similar to the photo I saw of Karma Chagme Rinpoche's kudung... :oops:

Thanks for the swift correction, Knotty. Wonder what mandala it is.
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
Knotty Veneer
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Knotty Veneer »

Karma Jinpa wrote:
Knotty Veneer wrote: No - this is just a shrine mandala. Akong Rinpoche's Kudung was cremated at his Tibetan Monastery Dolma LhaKhang last week. Hopefully some of his ashes will return and be interred at Samye Ling also.
That's what I get for presuming it was similar to the photo I saw of Karma Chagme Rinpoche's kudung... :oops:

Thanks for the swift correction, Knotty. Wonder what mandala it is.
Basically it's shrine that is used for the daily practices in the temple - each side AFAIK usually contain a different shrine set up for a different practice although this may change for the practices currently being done for Akong Rinpoche.

Stewart who has lived at Samye Ling could probably give you more detail.
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conebeckham
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by conebeckham »

Not being able to peer behind the curtain, I can't tell you what puja that mandala relates to...and I tried blowing up a pic of the pecha on the practitioners table, but I can't read it well enough to tell you what it is. So much for my amateur Dharma sleuthing.....I'm guessing it may be Khorwa Dongdruk
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Stewart
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Stewart »

The photos are a bit mixed actually... The first one is at Samye Ling... Behind the curtain is a Bernagchen statue...the others after are somewhere in Tibet, Dolma Lhakang perhaps.

At this point there is a week of Dorje Phagmo... Then Chakrasamvara...then Gyalwa Gyamtso...then Mila Ladrup until the 7 weeks are done.

The Lama next to Lama Yeshe R is called Tulku Orgyan Nyima from Palyul...he is married to Akong R and Lama Yeshe R's niece, and lives most of the time at Samye. Ling.
s.
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

:good:
Stewart wrote:The photos are a bit mixed actually... The first one is at Samye Ling... Behind the curtain is a Bernagchen statue...the others after are somewhere in Tibet, Dolma Lhakang perhaps.
Yeah, I realized that after they'd been posted. None of them are labeled on the Facebook page, hence my earlier confusion about the kudung. Also not sure the dates the photos were taken, as compared to when they were posted. Apologies for any confusion I may have caused.
At this point there is a week of Dorje Phagmo... Then Chakrasamvara...then Gyalwa Gyamtso...then Mila Ladrup until the 7 weeks are done.
Thank you for letting us know that Bernagchen is the proverbial "man behind the curtain," or Chökyong in this case. Likewise for the update on the puja schedule.
The Lama next to Lama Yeshe R is called Tulku Orgyan Nyima from Palyul...he is married to Akong R and Lama Yeshe R's niece, and lives most of the time at Samye. Ling.
This bit is awesome. I knew Akong Rinpoche had given Namchö wang, but was unsure if he had a personal connection or he was simply giving the Namchö since it was part of Kamtsang. Now we know there was a more intimate link.
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by JKhedrup »

Message from the office of Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche regarding the death of Akong Rinpoche:

Ven. Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche sends his condolences to Akong Rinpoche’s family, his students and all at Samye Ling Tibetan Centre, Scotland.

Akong Rinpoche and Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche have been close friends since they were children in the monastery at Drolma Lhakang in Tibet. Rinpoche is deeply saddened by not only the sudden loss of his close friend but also by the loss of a man who gave and achieved so much through his humanitarian work.

Akong Rinpoche invited Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche to join him at Samye Ling when Rinpoche was requested by H.H Dalai Lama to go to the West from India. Rinpoche lived at Samye Ling closely with Akong Rinpoche from 1987-89 before he moved to Ireland. The previous Akong Rinpoche and Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche were close relatives.

Prayers are being led by Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche since Akong Rinpoche’s death (8th October 2013) at Jampa Ling Buddhist Centre, Cavan, Ireland that Akong Rinpoche’s aspirations will be carried out. Prayers are also being said in Belfast and by Rinpoche’s individual students throughout Ireland for the traditional period of forty nine days.

For those that would like to attend, prayers are being held in the Shrine Room at Jampa Ling, Cavan at 7 pm daily.
http://www.jampaling.org/message-office ... -rinpoche/
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Stewart »

Hi JK,

I seen this message, it is very touching and personal. Have you met Panchen Otrul Rinpoche? I have, twice, first time in 1999 at the Dalai Lama's teachings in London...I was there with Lama Yeshe Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche, he was so nice, very gentle.

Then I met him in Glasgow about 5 years later...and he came over to me because remembered me! It was so sweet...I know Akong Rinpoche also held him in high regard.
s.
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Paul
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Paul »

conebeckham wrote:Not being able to peer behind the curtain, I can't tell you what puja that mandala relates to...and I tried blowing up a pic of the pecha on the practitioners table, but I can't read it well enough to tell you what it is. So much for my amateur Dharma sleuthing.....I'm guessing it may be Khorwa Dongdruk
When I've been at Samye Ling that shrine has had a statue of Mahakala behind it. It's the same shrine as the one behind Lama Yeshe's hat.
Look at the unfathomable spinelessness of man: all the means he's been given to stay alert he uses, in the end, to ornament his sleep. – Rene Daumal
the modern mind has become so limited and single-visioned that it has lost touch with normal perception - John Michell
Knotty Veneer
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Knotty Veneer »

Stewart wrote:Hi JK,

I seen this message, it is very touching and personal. Have you met Panchen Otrul Rinpoche? I have, twice, first time in 1999 at the Dalai Lama's teachings in London...I was there with Lama Yeshe Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche, he was so nice, very gentle.

Then I met him in Glasgow about 5 years later...and he came over to me because remembered me! It was so sweet...I know Akong Rinpoche also held him in high regard.
I have met Panchen Otrul Rinpoche on several occasions - wonderful man, very erudite Gelug scholar and accomplished practitioner - and a major figure in the renaissance of Buddhism in Mongolia to boot. I believe he was imprisoned at one time in Tibet under the Chinese. His name means Panchen Candidate - he was the original choice for the 10th Panchen Lama but, then as now, Chinese influence lead to the choice of another.
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Knotty Veneer »

Came across this - poem in memory of Akong Rinpoche by Angela McCabe. Made me smile - captures him wonderfully I think.

Coat

i.m. Akong Rinpoche

‘Will you make me a coat
that looks respectable and rich
yet able to keep out
the winter of Eastern Tibet.’

We began to make a coat
gold brocade on the outside
three linings on the inside.

Rabbit fur, moss green wool
and a silken peacock blue
for the final trim.

We stitched and tacked and tailored
and stayed up nights
till we were sure
it would keep out the chill
of the winds, the cold of the snows
and still look respectable.

Finally we fitted him
with the coat before he left.
To top it, a matching hat.

Months later
when the snows had melted
he returned without the coat.

And when I asked him, he said
‘I never intended to wear it.
It was for the old man
high up on the plateau.’

By Angela McCabe
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practitioner
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by practitioner »

Awesome poem Knotty!
One should do nothing other than benefit sentient beings either directly or indirectly - Shantideva
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Adi »

My thanks to everyone who has posted articles, prayers and stories of the late Akong Rinpoche. Also my sincere condolences to his students and all those connected with him. I was only a little familiar with him before the recent events and am very saddened that such an apparently amazing teacher and practitioner is no longer with us in that way.

Impermanence! Sometimes it just gives you a swift, hard kick in the a**.

Adi
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Simon E. »

practitioner wrote:Awesome poem Knotty!
Wonderful.

:namaste:
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

A sea of tsa-tsas being made for Rinpoche in Tibet:

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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
JKhedrup
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Re: Murder of Akong Rinpoche & Entourage

Post by JKhedrup »

HI there,
Never had the pleasure of meeting Ontrul Rinpoche but he is the teacher of a friend of mine.
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